An Afternoon Alone
by Auxesia
Summary: *A little late-night writing exercise* Reunited after years of separation, Zuko and Mai spend an afternoon together, and relaxation quickly turns to passion. Set after Zuko's return to the Fire Nation. *Lemon* **WARNING: mature content**


**A/N:** I wrote this one-shot to celebrate watching the Avatar series straight through for the second time. I realized that, though Avatar is a kid's TV show despite its mature themes, Zuko and Mai have always been and/or had the potential to be a very mature, well-developed couple with a profound romance. I always wished the series would have gone into these two characters more, but I'm aware that Zuko and Mai were at the age where their relationship would have been far too complex - and probably erotic - for the show. Besides, they were still antagonists and secondary characters for the majority of the series, despite their fascinating personalities. Ultimately, I understand why it couldn't happen.

Nonetheless, by the end of the Book of Fire it was obvious to me that there was something worth discovering in their relationship. Zuko was arguably the first Avatar character to become romantically mature when he sacrificed love to keep his beloved safe, and later atoned to earn the right to be with her. Mai was the second, when she was willing to give up everything in her life for the sake of her love and saw things through to the end, despite her birth and upbringing.

It was in tribute to this intriguing and admirable couple, and out of my personal wish that their story would have continued further, that I found the inspiration to write this fanfiction. It was out of my desire to share these sentiments with a community with similar interests that I published it here. Enjoy.

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_For Zuko and Mai. Their story continues in the imaginations of lovers everywhere - in this world, or any other. _

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**An Afternoon Alone**

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"One-one-hundred."

He loved to watch her when she was displeased.

"Two-one-hundred."

Her thumb twitched again beneath his and Zuko tightened his grip, pinning it down harder. Her eyes narrowed, her brows drawing together in a scowl of annoyance.

"Three-one-hundred," he proclaimed, meeting her displeasure with a lazy smile. "You lose again."

Mai jerked her hand away from his and folded her arms, turning her back to him. "Whatever," she grouched. "I don't know why I play this stupid game with you, anyway. Thumb war." Her scoff of disdain made clear what she thought of it.

Zuko leaned back on the couch and pulled his fiancé back against him gently. She resisted, but more out of habit than unwillingness. Her arms stayed tightly crossed beneath her breasts. He said nothing, simply held her until her tight shoulders relaxed and she lay back against him, letting him gather her closer into his arms.

"Well, at least you're more laid-back now, if a little childish." Mai said finally. "I must say, it's a nice change from you yelling at everyone all the time."

Zuko frowned. "I don't yell all the time."

Mai twisted her head around so that he could see an eyebrow lifting skeptically. "Don't you, now? When you and Azula were arguing this morning everyone down the hall and out the courtyard could hear you cursing and whining."

Zuko's frowned darkened. "I definitely did not _whine_."

Mai rolled her eyes and leaned back against him. "Whatever. Point is, I'm glad you're relaxed now. You don't have to believe it." Zuko twisted his mouth slightly in irritation, but didn't reply.

Mai twisted around again when he didn't say anything. Her brow twitched, and she eyed him quizzically, as though surprised that he did not retaliate. After a moment she smiled and stretched up to plant a soft kiss against his lips. Zuko's brows smoothed, and he smiled back at her gently. Content, she stretched out and lay back against him, her eyes fluttering half-closed languorously.

When she did not speak again, Zuko let his mind drift, and immediately regretted it. A glow of contentment surrounded him, but on the edges lurked half-formed shadows and doubts, waiting for a moment of weakness. When his thoughts wandered, they leapt into focus. Regret. Shame. Humiliation.

He clenched his jaw in frustration, but said nothing, not wanting to ruin the mood. Mai must have sensed something, though, because she suddenly turned around and touched his cheek lightly, her serene countenance betraying a hint of worry.

"Zuko, what's wrong?" She asked softly.

Zuko turned his head so that her fingertips did not rest on the scarred side of his face – an old habit of shame, and involuntary. It was a mistake. Understanding flashed across her eyes, followed by a quick succession of emotions – sadness, compassion, and something that he could not define, except that it seemed pained – before she carefully controlled her expression into her characteristic blank calm.

"Nothing," he muttered, a lie spoken out of habit rather than intent to conceal.

Mai sighed with exaggerated impatience. "You might be able to fool the idiots that worship you in this palace, and even Azula, but you can't fool me. Something's been bothering you." Her hands cupped his face gently, turned him to face her, pushing his hair back from where he had unconsciously let it fall over his scar. Zuko complied reluctantly. He was not afraid to be seen by her, but old habits did not distinguish between lovers and other people.

She misunderstood the reluctance. "You're hiding something," she accused. It was a guess, but a very accurate one. Zuko made a frustrated sound in his throat and turned away from her again, forcefully this time.

"I'm not hiding anything." It came out sharper than he had intended.

She stiffened, her face suddenly a degree cooler. Zuko took a deep breath and, with an effort, moderated his tone. He would not snap at her. Not Mai.

"I've just been…thinking about some things." Much better. His chest was tight with the unfamiliar feeling of restraining his temper.

After a moment, concern returned to Mai's eyes, replacing coldness. "Like what?" When he hesitated she leaned closer, her hands massaging his shoulders with an odd sort of tenderness. "Talk to me."

Zuko took a deep breath. "I don't know," he admitted, leaning forward and letting his head fall into his hands. Dull needle points were pulsing in his temples, the beginnings of a headache. "I'm not sure, Mai. I'm not sure of anything right now."

"What do you mean?" The tone of her voice brought his head up. He rarely heard so much emotion in her voice. There was definitely worry, and something else. A note of pleading, and even fear. "What aren't you sure about?"

Zuko blinked, taken back by her reaction. "I don't know, all sorts of things…my whole life right now. Look it's complicated, why don't we –"

For some reason, that made her eyes narrow in anger. Bewilderment replaced his frustration. Now why in the world would she be _angry_?

"What's complicated?" She snapped, sitting up and pulling away from him. "If you're _not sure _about something, Zuko, please let me know so I can leave you to your private thoughts until you figure it out." She bit out the words, each one so cold he half-expected frost to form in the air between them.

Zuko just sat there for a moment, frozen in surprise. Then he recognized the stiffness in her shoulders, the tightness in the corners of her sensual mouth. If she had been a cat, her hair would have been standing straight on end, her tail straight and stiff as a rod. She thought he wasn't sure about _her_.

Relief washed through him, followed by a twinge of annoyance that he would be relieved that her displeasure was misplaced, and a dim wonder at her beauty, even when she was angry at him. Perhaps especially when she was angry.

"Mai," he drawled softly, resting his hands on her slim shoulders to hold her attention, "you misunderstood. Whatever I'm not sure about, it's not you. It will never be you." He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. She did not respond, but she did not pull away, either. "A lot of things have changed in my years of banishment. Values, certainties…things I thought I knew. I'm just having a hard time reconciling some of those with my life now. That's all."

The steely look in her eyes softened a little. "Really?"

"Really." He smiled reassuringly and kissed her again, satisfied when she returned the kiss and even drew his lower lip between her teeth briefly before pulling away. "I'm sorry if it sounded like I was having second thoughts about us." The apology came a little reluctantly, but that, too, was habit. He was sincere.

Mai's eyes, for some reason, took on a contemplative look. "I see, she said, a little too slowly. She caressed his cheek softly with a hand, resting her fingertips over his scar. He did not flinch, or pull away.

"A lot of things changed, indeed," she murmured, almost to herself. "Sometimes I wonder…" she trailed off, as though debating with herself. Whatever she was about to say, she shook her head and dismissed it. "I won't ask, and I won't force you to tell me anything you don't want to…But is there anything I can do to help?"

Zuko shook his head. "I'll be fine. I'll get over it…" he leaned closer to her, his lips brushing against hers teasingly. "Although, I would like it very much if you could lay back down with me."

Mai laughed wryly. "I think I can manage that." Zuko held his arms out to her. She turned around and lay back against him, wrapping his arms around herself like a blanket with a soft hum of contentment.

Zuko, for his part, focused on the warmth and softness of his love in his arms and shoved the dark thoughts away into the back of his brain. He could torment himself with guilt and regret and all those good things later, when he was not with her. When Mai was with him, there was no room in the world for anything else. He would not allow there to be anything else.

Silence settled in, time floating past languorously while the late afternoon sunlight cast its warm glow over them. Occasionally Zuko would reach over to the tea table beside them, picking up a fruit or a bit of pastry and slipping it to Mai, who would eat it from his fingers without moving, a pampered cat enjoying the service of her owner.

After few minutes, she shifted in his arms, turning slightly to contemplate the table of treats their servants had laid out for them before leaving them to their privacy.

"Hmm…" she mused, her voice as lazy and content as her half-shut eyes, "get me a chocolate, Zuko."

When he held the chocolate to her lips, she leaned up ever so slightly, her teeth barely grazing his fingers. Instead of laying back down, as she usually did, she reached up and took his wrist in her slender fingers, pulling his hand closer. She dragged her tongue lazily over his fingertips, inspecting the digits between licks, for all in the world like a little animal scavenging to get the last scraps of a particularly tasty treat. In spite of himself, Zuko laughed.

Mai smiled and let his hand drop, snuggling back against him with a small, quizzical smile on her lips. "What?"

He tightened his arms around her in an affectionate squeeze. "Nothing. But you're relaxed too…and you're beautiful when you tease. But don't do that again."

Mai turned around, propping her chin on her hands to look him in the eye as her body pressed against his. The innocence on her face screamed guilt, as out of place as holiday paper decorating a blade.

"Do what, Zuko?"

He met her stare evenly and took her wrist in his larger hand, bringing her fingers to his mouth.

"This," he murmured, and slowly drew her index finger between his lips, licking it clean as she had done. Her gaze did not waver, but he felt the quickening of her heart through her chest against his as her pupils seemed to darken. "Not unless you want to get me going."

She smirked. It was an expression he often saw on her when she thought of battle. The only difference was the desire in her eyes. Mai never showed desire for anything, except him. That knowledge warmed him, reassured him.

"Maybe I do," she said softly, leaning forward to kiss him. Zuko met the kiss slowly, lazily, his palms wandering down the curve of her sides to rest on her hips. Mai arched her back a little, and he answered her insistence with a hand sliding up her spine to rest between her shoulder blades, pulling her against him.

Mai broke away from the kiss first and pulled her knees up until she straddled his waist, using the support of her thighs to free her hands. Her fingers glided over his face, over the hard, rippling flesh of his burn scar, tracing the line of his jaw before following his jugular vein down over the soft skin of his throat.

Zuko exhaled softly and tilted his head back, feeling the coolness of her fingers contrast with the warmth of the sun. Heat flickered to life within him, in his chest, and deeper still in his abdomen where his breath, his _chi_, gathered and pooled between each inhale and exhale. It was the same heat he felt when he used fire-bending – alike, but different, two sides of the same thing. His body temperature rose several degrees.

Mai felt the change, the arousal in him. Her smile widened; she was glad for his fire-bending, glad that it made him so easy to read, his excitement so obvious to her. Other men and women might lie with their words, and even their bodies, but Zuko could never lie about his desire for her. As he tilted his head back she leaned forward, her lips pressing against his throat as her hand slid behind his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair to hold him still.

Zuko hissed softly between his teeth as she pressed moist, butterfly kisses down the curved line of his throat, marking his skin with flickering licks, nips and an occasional sucking motion that made the nerves under the surface jump to attention. She ran her tongue into the hollow at the base of his throat, where receptors were clustered close to the surface, and he jerked at the sudden flare of pleasure. The pain in his scalp froze him in place. Mai tightened her fingers into his hair, punctuating the silent command with a sharp nip at his shoulder.

When she was satisfied that he would not move, she released him and sat up, her quick hands deftly untying the silk cloth that bound his royal robes together. Zuko watched her, his golden eyes narrowed and glittering dangerously.

Carefully schooling her expression as much as she could – she knew her eyes still betrayed her, but there was nothing to be done about that – Mai pulled the elastic from her hair, letting the silky strands cascade down her back in an ebony waterfall. She set the elastic down on the tea table and pushed Zuko's robe open.

She simply sat for a moment, drinking him in with her eyes – the smooth sweep of his chest, the taut shoulders that were a testament to his long and stern training, and the washboard stomach cut with muscles that rippled and clenched as she traced them with her fingertips, the nails scraping slightly along his skin.

"Mai," Zuko breathed softly. The single word stopped her. It was a warning, a sign that she was about to go too far, push him too close to the edge. She shifted a little and stopped when she felt his arousal pressed against her hip, the heat from his body reaching her easily through the flimsy silk of their robes.

Mai looked back up into his eyes and was dimly surprised to note that she was breathing hard, her lips parted slightly. "Sit up," she commanded, and was proud that her voice didn't waver.

He was upright almost before the words left her lips, helping her part his robe until the red-and-gold material barely clung to his shoulders, leaving his body open to her. He wore nothing underneath. She was naked under her robe, as well, and from the way his eyes raked over her, burning through the silk and scorching her skin with their intensity, she knew that he knew.

She moved back so that his erection was between them and reached down to grasp the shaft lightly with her hand, holding it as carefully as she would a live flame.

His sharp intake of breath encouraged and emboldened her. Hovering above him, her knees spread apart to hold her weight, she let her fingers glide up and down along his length, barely touching the skin with her nails. Zuko grabbed her wrists and tried to guide her hand, but she slapped him away and resumed her maddeningly slow, light caresses, rubbing her thumb over the head with each upstroke to stimulate the tight bundle of nerves there.

His eyes narrowed, and he took hold of her wrists again, his palms almost painfully hot, the fire in his nature too close to physical manifestation. There was such a fine line between lust and destruction for fire-benders that he was always on the border when he was with her like this, always walking the razor's edge between cruelty and love.

He pulled her hands up as he lay back suddenly, forcing her off-balance. Mai caught herself with her hands beside his face, staring down into his eyes as she held herself above him. Before she could sit up, his hand was at the small of her back, holding her down while his other hand pulled impatiently at her robe, undoing her belt and yanking the folds aside until he could slide his palms along her bare skin. The heat of his hand against her stomach made her inhale sharply.

"No," she hissed, resisting the pressure of his hand on her back, "not yet."

"Yes," he growled, his voice several octaves lower than normal. The cords in his arms tightened. "It's been too long, Mai." For just a moment, a shadow of sadness flickered across his eyes, the phantom of past pain. "You don't know – you can't imagine – how I've wanted to hold you. How I've wanted you like this..."

The naked need in his voice reached through the haze of lust, reached her and invoked a deep sorrow for him, for their time of separation. "I think I do know, Zuko," she replied softly.

For a moment his face softened, and she saw nothing but love in his gaze. Just a moment, then hot desire flared again in his eyes, burning into her. "I will be more patient later, but not now."

Mai tensed her thighs in response, refusing to budge. "I'm not ready." That wasn't exactly true, but the protest was more out of habit. It usually took them longer than this to prepare her…but it had been so long since she'd last been with him.

Zuko moved his hands to her hips, pushing her back slightly until she felt the tip of him pressing against her, hard and so hot against her skin that the discomfort could not be smothered even by her desire for him. "Then try to relax."

He pulled her down onto him, ignoring her soft snarl of protest. His hips pushed up to meet hers, and protest turned into a gasp as the breath left her lungs in a rush. Mai bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to not tense, or twist away.

He was inside her. Every survival instinct screamed at her, as always, to tear away from him; screamed that he would not fit, she could not do this – but the pleasure hit her brain, a white glare burning away inhibitions like mist in the sun, and she had to focus on the small bloom of pain inside her just to keep herself from grinding her hips down against him.

It was just the tip of him, so far, but it was almost too much. His skin was burning against hers, just a hair short of unbearable.

"Zuko," she gasped, "too hot…"

His eyes were narrowed, his brows drawn together in fierce concentration. "I know," he managed between clenched teeth. "But this is as much as I can contain it." Flames were flickering under his skin, pulsing with every ragged breath. He closed his eyes, struggling to rein it in. Fire flared in his chest, pulsing with his _chi_, fighting to break through his skin and give his lust tangible form.

Mai's lips hard against his brought his eyes open in surprise. He groaned against her lips as she ground herself down against him. She was too tight, far too tight to take him in any further with her force alone.

"Mai, don't," he panted, "I'm trying to –"

"Move," she hissed, her eyes blazing with uncharacteristic demand. "Trust me, I want you enough right now to not wait. I swear, Zuko, if you don't move right now –"

That was all the permission he needed. Pulling her down with his hands on her hips, he thrust up into her, as deep as he could go with the first motion. She cried out and arched against him, torn between pulling away and pushing herself further down. Zuko felt the fire in his abdomen flare up again and squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to not force the last inch or two further, to let her adjust to him.

A shudder ran through Mai's body, her muscles taut as she held herself still above him. Her eyes closed, and she inhaled deeply. She relaxed by slow increments. Zuko smiled involuntarily with pride at her self-control. She was still tense, but no longer resisting him. Her hips moved experimentally, and he stifled a groan as he slid a little deeper into her.

"You're ready," he breathed, his voice tight with breaking restraint. It was not a question.

Without waiting for an answer, he rose up swiftly and flipped them over so that she was beneath him. She fell back against the couch with a soft grunt and winced, her legs automatically shifting to accommodate the new angle. Zuko sat up, as much as he could while still mostly buried inside her, and quickly shrugged off his robe, letting it drop to the floor.

"Come here," Mai murmured, reaching for him. Zuko complied readily, settling himself over her and letting her slide her hands around his shoulders, the muscles in his back flexing against her palms as he kissed her. He slid his arms around her, one hand firmly grasping her shoulder to hold her down, the other forming a gentle grip in her hair to press her head against his shoulder as he pushed forward.

Mai pressed her teeth into his shoulder, muffling her moans as he moved with deliberate slowness, stretching her with just enough pressure to tiptoe the fine line between pleasure and pain before pulling back again. He worked himself in, a little deeper each time, until he was settled completely inside her. Then he stopped moving, murmuring soft encouragement into her ear and pressing open-mouthed kisses against her neck and shoulders, distracting her while her body adjusted to the new depth. Sweat glistened on his skin, and his jaw was a hard line betraying control at the brink, so tight and severe it was agony to hold back any longer. He trembled ever so slightly, visibly struggling with himself to be still.

Mai pulled away for breath after a moment and pushed her hips against him tentatively. Her skin was pressed tightly against his; there was no more room. She felt her body stretching to accommodate him, adjusting to the weight of him inside her. There had been a dull, aching pain while he was working into her, but it was rapidly fading, overwhelmed by the consuming heat of his body over hers and the need to feel him moving against her.

"Zuko," she panted, trying to pull him closer with her thighs around his waist, "I'm fine now. It's ok."

He exhaled sharply, as though shaking free of some terrible torment. For an instant the air around him…wavered…as though the heat inside him was suddenly too close to the surface, an instant away from erupting in flame. The sunlight caught in the sheen of sweat that covered his body looked like an aura of fire.

"Mai…" he whispered, inhaling deeply and burning her scent into his memory.

Then his hands were on her thighs, searing her skin, pulling them up until he found the angle that made her cry out and writhe beneath him. Her nails dug into the skin of his back; he didn't seem to notice. Holding her thigh against him with one hand and lifting her hips with the other, he pulled back until only the tip rested inside her, pausing for a moment when she tightened around him at the motion, then slammed back into her as deeply as before. Restraint and patience dissolved like paper vanishing in an inferno. His name was her breathless scream against his shoulder.

"I love you." It was a soft murmur, almost lost between them, but he knew she heard. She had no air to respond, but he intended to keep it that way.

Zuko gripped the fire in his chest with all his willpower, forced it down and locked it deep inside himself. And then he was aware of nothing but the scent of Mai's skin against his, the heat of their bodies and the sound of her voice, as he lost himself in her.

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**End**


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